


Because It's You

by izoverthemoon



Series: Malec One Shots [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: ALL THE FLUFF, Alec Lightwood Deserves Nice Things, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, I Don't Even Know, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Insecure Alec Lightwood, M/M, Magnus Bane Deserves Nice Things, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood Fluff, Malec is too cute, Why Did I Write This?, cilantro is involved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-30 18:52:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12115005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/izoverthemoon/pseuds/izoverthemoon
Summary: Magnus and Alec had a little talk over dinner. Cilantro is involved.





	Because It's You

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not entirely satisfied with this but I really wanted to post this so here it is  
> And I still don't have any idea where the whole cilantro business came from  
> Ah well  
> Hope you enjoy!

“Magnus,” Alec’s voice was just above a whisper, and Magnus had to strain his neck towards him to be able to hear the shadowhunter properly.

“Yes?”

Alec raised his eyes and scanned Magnus’ face for just a second before returning to sorting the cilantro out of his chicken chow mein. He never liked the taste of this specific kind of spice, which was not something Magnus found understandable. “Cilantro is a very special spice that should be cherished, Alexander,” he had quasi-chastised Alec when he first found out that the latter hated cilantro, and with a huff, he had manoeuvred his chopsticks across the table and had picked all of Alec’s cilantro out of his dish, “I can’t believe you’re throwing them away like that.” Magnus had finished in a tone with mocked hurt. Alec, one the other hand, had rolled his eyes, and had begun picking out cilantro from his plate to Magnus’ plate.

“Alexander?” Magnus looked up when Alec placed a whole spoonful of cilantro in front of him but didn’t answer his question. He could tell the tall man was thinking, because of his furrowed brows and the way his lips were set in a straight line. So Magnus chose to dutifully chopstick Alec’s cilantro and silently watch him, waiting for his mind to connect bits of thought into a coherent sentence.

Alec was never a man with his words; that was usually Magnus’ forte, weaving simple words into intricate and fancy lines. Right now, as he twirled his fork in between his index and middle finger, his brain was trying to find a more delicate way to voice his thoughts. To no avail, unfortunately.

“Why me?” Alec blurted out, and immediately sighed inwardly. So much for trying to work around the bluntness.

Magnus was obviously startled. His chopsticks hovering in mid-air, he looked up to find a slightly bashful Alec making an attempt to fork up his chow mein. His boyfriend didn’t like eating chow mein with fork because “that wasn’t how the dish should be eaten”, but he was still having some teeny tiny trouble handling chopsticks (“Alexander! You’re going to poke someone’s eye out with the way you hold them!”) so as a result, they had agreed that until Alec had fully mastered the art of eating with chopsticks, he would have to use a fork for all chopsticks related dishes outside of their loft.

“Why you what? Why you of anyone have to dislike cilantro?” Magnus blinked, and resumed to serving said spice to his own stir fry.

Alec huffed out a laugh, “no, Magnus, not that, we’ve been through that.” He stuffed the last fork full of chow mein into his mouth non so elegantly, chewed and swallowed, before looking up, staring at his boyfriend mixing cilantro with soy sauce with a look of mild horror and confusion. “Although I don’t think I’ll ever understand your passion for cilantro. I don’t even want to know why you’re mixing it with soy sauce.”

“I remain firmly on my ground, Alexander, that you’re missing out one of the best thing this world has to offer.” Magnus grinned when Alec pushed the bowl of soy sauced cilantro away from him and scrunched his nose. “Anyway, what was it that you wanted to ask me before?”

Alec reached out and took Magnus’ free hand on the table, and for some unexplainable reasons, he instantly felt calmer. Magnus seemed to sense his self-consciousness, because he then twisted his wrist and faced his palm upwards, grabbing hold of Alec’s hand while rubbing soothing circles on the back of his hand with his thumb.

“Why…why me of all the people you’ve known or met?” Alec swallowed, “I mean, you’ve lived for centuries, and have known plenty of awesome people. Why me?”

Magnus stared into those hazel-coloured eyes, and saw the vulnerability behind the swirl of emotions. Alec was very self-conscious, Magnus knew; and the fact that this was his first and only relationship so far was sometimes overwhelming for the shadowhunter who, for the whole of his 20 odd years of life, had done nothing but training to be a demon hunter.

Magnus tilted his head slightly to squint at his boyfriend, “well, why shouldn’t it be you?”

Alec gulped.

“Everyone tends to go after Jace, or Izzy, for that matter. They’re the beautiful ones. I – I’m just, you know, there. Behind them, protecting them when they do the offending.” He scratched the back of his head and lowered his gaze to stare at the table. There was this small round spot made of dried up soy sauce on the tablecloth that Alec suddenly found extremely interesting. “And, you know, I’m just not…special.”

Before Magnus could interrupt Alec by abruptly standing up and dragging him home to prove to him just how special he was, Alec continued.

“But you’re like the definition of beautiful and special, Magnus, and I mean, you’ve been with 17,000 people in God knows how many centuries you’ve been alive. There’s bound to be someone immortal, and someone better than plain old me.” Alec retrieved his hand from Magnus’ and reached out to rub his index finger around the edge of the round stain on the tablecloth subconsciously, a faint blush creeping onto his cheeks.

Magnus was, for the first time in his immortal life, lost for words. This boy in front of him clearly didn’t see himself for who he was.

“Don’t shadowhunters use mirrors?” Magnus teased, “if you don’t have one, I can conjure one up so that you can see for yourself just how gorgeous you are.” He finished with a wink, and succeeded in earning another blush from Alec, but the vulnerabilities and the confusion were still lurking behind those eyes with swirls of emerald and auburn colour.

“Look, Alexander, let me ask you a question first.” Magnus straightened up, “why me then?”

Alec clearly didn’t see that coming because he visibly stared, his finger stopped mid-circle.

He wasn’t sure how to answer this question because in his mind choosing Magnus had always been some kind of a given. It was like they were the opposite sides of a magnet and the force was pulling them together, towards each other. Being with Magnus was such a natural thing to Alec that he never gave it much thought. He had no doubt that, at least at his end of the stick, this relationship should and would work.

But that was exactly what was bugging Alec. The concept of “us” with him and Magnus had securely lodged in his mind, but was this what Magnus thought as well? Was this what he wanted? Alec felt stupid for being so insecure about them, because ever since they started dating, Magnus had been nothing but caring and loving and supportive of him.

“I don’t know.” Alec replied, after a moment that seemed lengthened by silence.

Magnus’ face fell, his smile faltered imperceptibly – he was expecting Alec to stutter and stammer on his words but he certainly didn’t see an answer this blunt coming his way. Alec caught the moment of disappointment, however, and he winced ever so slightly.

“No, no, I mean, ugh –” Rubbing his hand down his face in frustration, Alec struggled to find the appropriate words to convey his feelings.

“Remember when I told you on our first date that, until you came along, I always thought I couldn’t have what I wanted because of all the laws and the Clave and everything?” The lighting in the restaurant they were dining shone in Alec’s eyes, bringing out a ring of gold-green hue around his irises. Those eyes gazed directly into Magnus’ warm brown ones, searching them, willing them to shake away the slight gloominess behind such warmth. “Yes you are immortal and you and I are basically from different centuries but that doesn’t stop you from being you. The amazing, caring, and powerful man that you are. And I love _you_. And I choose _you_.” Alec paused; he was trying to read Magnus’ reactions, but the warlock’s face betrayed none of his thoughts. He took a deep breath and shook his head imperceptibly, like he was trying to clear his head, before continuing, “and I’d choose you all over again.”

For the second time in that night, and the second time ever in his life, Magnus was rendered speechless. It wasn’t like they hadn’t had this sort of conversation before; Alexander could be rather oblivious when it came to self-value and rather obstinate in going down the spiral of self-doubt. Tonight would’ve been like all those other nights, with Magnus reassuring Alec that he was more than enough and that he was worth all the love in the world, had Alec not uttered those words that literally took Magnus’ breath away.

In his 400 odd years of walking the earth, no one had ever said those words to Magnus. Most of the people he had met were either too afraid or too repulsed by the mere idea of being with a man that would never get old; the few that voluntarily struck out a friendship always chose to leave in the end, for fear of hurting themselves. And then, four centuries later, here sat Alexander, with the feature of pure adoration whenever he looked at Magnus like he was the most precious thing in the whole world. The way Alec expressed his feelings and his affections towards him never ceased to amaze the warlock.

Eventually Magnus found his voice. “And there’s my answer to your question, darling.” He smiled, resting his elbows on the table and leaned in closer to Alec, “like I said before, for some reason, you stirred up more emotions in me than anyone ever did; you still do. And that is saying something. You are kind, and considerate, but also strong, don’t ever doubt that. And I love you, don’t ever doubt that either.”

Alec smiled, and the smile turned into a grin when Magnus leaned in some more and placed a soft kiss on his lips.

“Don’t smile, Alexander,” Magnus mumbled, “I can’t kiss you when you’re all teeth.”

Alec laughed, and scrunched his nose, “I can practically smell cilantro on you, Magnus, I’m not sure I want to kiss you right now.” His grin was stuck on his face when he saw Magnus’ mock horrified expression.

“Alexander –” Magnus gasped dramatically, but the sharp intake of breath was hitched when Alec tilted his head and captured Magnus’ lips with his again.

“Hmm, on second thought, you might help me overcome my dislike for that particular spice.”


End file.
